1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to computerized medical diagnostic systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a computerized system for time-based diagnosis of a patient""s medical complaint by use of dynamic data structures.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Health care costs currently represent a significant portion of the United States Gross National Product and are generally rising faster than any other component of the Consumer Price Index. Moreover, usually because of an inability to pay for medical services, many people are deprived of access to even the most basic medical care and information.
Many people delay in obtaining, or are prevented from seeking, medical attention because of cost, time constraints, or inconvenience. If the public had universal, unrestricted, and easy access to medical information, many diseases could be prevented. Likewise, the early detection and treatment of numerous diseases could keep many patients from reaching the advanced stages of illness, the treatment of which is a significant part of the financial burden attributed to our nation""s health care system. It is clear that the United States is facing health-related issues of enormous proportions and that present solutions are not robust.
Previous attempts at tackling the healthcare problem have involved various forms of automation. Some of these attempts have been in the form of a dial-in library of answers to medical questions. Other attempts have targeted providing doctors with computerized aids for use during a patient examination. These methods involve static procedures or algorithms. What is desired is an automated way of providing to a patient medical advice and diagnosis that is quick, efficient and accurate. Such a medical advice system should be modular to allow expansion for new types of medical problems or methods of detection.
Structure-based processing is a method of diagnosing diseases that works by arranging diseases, symptoms, and questions into a set of related disease, symptom, and question structures, such as objects or lists, in such a way that the structures can be processed to generate a dialogue with a patient. Each question to the patient generates one of a set of defined responses, and each response generates one of a set of defined questions. This establishes a dialogue that elicits symptoms from the patient. The symptoms are processed and weighted to rule diseases in or out. The set of ruled-in diseases establishes the diagnosis. A structure-based processing system organizes medical knowledge into formal structures and then executes those structures on a structure engine, such as a list-based engine, to automatically select the next question. The responses to the questions lead to more questions and ultimately to a diagnosis.
In one aspect of the present invention there is a system for automated medical diagnosis of a patient, the system comprising a first medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for a first disease and an alternative symptom weight for a second disease; a second medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for the second disease; and a function configured to apply the actual weight for the first medical symptom element to a first diagnostic score and the alternative weight to a second diagnostic score, wherein the first diagnostic score is associated with the first disease and the second diagnostic score is associated with the second disease, and wherein the function continues diagnostic scoring by applying actual symptom weights for the second disease to the second diagnostic score.
In another aspect of the present invention there is a computerized system for diagnosis of a patient, the system comprising a) a list of diseases, each disease associated with a list of symptoms; either the following two features: b) a first function configured to automatically select a one of the symptoms to be a focus symptom based on a predetermined criteria; and c) a second function configured to evaluate the focus symptom so as to establish the focus symptom, wherein the established symptom contributes a weight to diseases having the established symptom; or the following two features: d) a third function configured to automatically select a one of the symptoms to be a focus symptom from the list of symptoms associated with a selected one of the diseases; and e) a fourth function configured to evaluate the focus symptom to establish the focus symptom, wherein the established symptom contributes a weight to at least the selected disease having the established symptom; and f) a fifth function configured to selectively repeat b) and c) or d) and e) until accumulated weights for a disease reach or pass a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
In another aspect of the present invention there is a computerized system for diagnosing the medical problem of a patient, the system comprising a) a list of diseases, each disease being associated with a list of symptoms; b) a first function, in a first mode, configured to select a subset of diseases having shared symptoms from the list of diseases; c) a second function configured to evaluate at least one of the shared symptoms; d) a third function configured to switch the first function from the first mode to a second mode based on the evaluation of the shared symptoms, wherein a particular disease is selected; e) a fourth function configured to select, in the second mode, symptoms associated with the particular disease, wherein at least one of the selected symptoms of the particular disease is evaluated; and f) a fifth function configured to diagnose the medical problem of a patient based on the evaluating of the shared symptoms and the selected symptoms.
In another aspect of the present invention there is a system for automated medical diagnosis of a patient, the system comprising means for providing a first medical symptom element, the first medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for a first disease and an alternative symptom weight for a second disease; means for providing a second medical symptom element, the second medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for the second disease; means for applying the actual weight for the first medical symptom element to a first diagnostic score and the alternative weight to a second diagnostic score, wherein the first diagnostic score is associated with the first disease and the second diagnostic score is associated with the second disease; and means for continuing diagnostic scoring by applying actual symptom weights for the second disease to the second diagnostic score.
In another aspect of the present invention there is a computerized system for diagnosis of a patient, the system comprising a) means for providing a list of diseases, each disease associated with a list of symptoms; either the following two features: b) means for automatically selecting a one of the symptoms to be a focus symptom based on a predetermined criteria; and c) means for evaluating the focus symptom to establish the focus symptom, the established symptom contributing a weight to diseases having the established symptom; or the following two features: d) means for automatically selecting a one of the symptoms to be a focus symptom from the list of symptoms associated with a selected one of the diseases; and e) means for evaluating the focus symptom to establish the focus symptom, the established symptom contributing a weight to at least the selected disease having the established symptom; and f) means for selectively repeating b) and c) or d) and e) until accumulated weights for a disease reach or pass a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
In another aspect of the present invention there is a computerized system for diagnosing a medical problem of a patient, the system comprising a) means for providing a list of diseases, each disease being associated with a list of symptoms; b) means for selecting, in a first mode, a subset of diseases having shared symptoms from the list of diseases; c) means for evaluating at least one of the shared symptoms; d) means for switching from the first mode to a second mode based on the evaluating of the shared symptoms, wherein a particular disease is selected; e) means for selecting, in the second mode, symptoms associated with the particular disease; f) means for evaluating at least one of the selected symptoms of the particular disease; and g) means for diagnosing the medical problem of a patient based on the evaluating of the shared symptoms and the selected symptoms.
In yet another aspect of the present invention there is a system for automated patient diagnosis, the system comprising means for automatically asking a patient questions; means for receiving answers from the patient; means for using the answers to select a subset of possible diseases based on a chief complaint; means for determining a first significant symptom of the patient; and means for diagnosing a disease by asking questions associated with the symptoms of one of the selected diseases, wherein the selected disease includes the first significant symptom.